


the bird's eye

by melonseeds



Series: stories of a precinct [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24305341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonseeds/pseuds/melonseeds
Summary: [snapshot stories of a colourful bunch in the police force]after months of tirelessly working on a case, the police force call in help for a mission to take out a notorious gang leader.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Tenten, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura/Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata & Hyuuga Neji, Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: stories of a precinct [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1754623
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	1. the briefing

tsunade folded over the file in her hands, "any questions?"

"negative," sasuke replied, amongst a sea of muttered 'nos' and head shakes.

"oh, and one last thing," tsunade added as she stepped down from the podium, "we'll be calling in the bird's eye unit for this mission, they'll be here soon."

"oh MAAAN!" naruto all but yelled as captain tsunade exited the briefing room, "not the weirdo twins! i don't know how to talk to them! they're so cold!"

"are not!" sakura countered, "they're just too refined for your simple mind."

sasuke snorted and naruto shot him with a look of disbelief, "did you just laugh at me?"

"shut up, idiot."

sakura looked triumphant, and stuck a tongue out at naruto as she trailed behind sasuke as the rest of the squad filed out back to their workspaces.

"hey, sasuke!" sakura tried to get his attention, following him back to his office.

he turned to face her in the doorway, his questioning face asking what she wanted.

"are ya busy? wanna go have lunch?"

he seemed to consider her offer, and sakura's hopes climbed just a little, before his face went back to neutral.

"sorry sakura, need to get stuff ready before those two get here," and he backed into his office and closed the door in her face, but not before she caught a glimpse of sai smiling at her... mockingly? it was hard to tell.

she sighed, "you're gonna say yes one of these days!" she said after the door and thumped it once with the side of her fist.

she heard a muffled 'hn' and smiled to herself before making her way back to her desk to gather her things for her lunch break.

"i could go to lunch with you," naruto chimed, a big grin on his face and his eyebrows wagging suggestively.

sakura rolled her eyes, "yeah, yeah, let's go."

naruto whooped and jumped up from his seat and gathered his badge and wallet and followed sakura that was putting on her jacket.

"you coming tenten?" sakura asked, fixing her collar and looking at her friend expectantly.

"oh? yeah, go ahead, i'll catch up, just need to print a thing," she waved a hand dismissively.

naruto's whines could be heard down the hall after sakura, "i thought we were finally having a lunch date!"

"in your dreams buddy," sakura answered and the chirp of the elevator immediately cut off their voices.

tenten hit print, and got up towards the printer in the corner of the room, waiting for the fifteen page document to spit out. the soft bell of the elevator chimed again and she absently looked in its direction.

the doors slid open and from inside her old partner from their cadet days emerged, and someone she knew to be his cousin was beside him (they looked very much alike). they weren't twins, but their similar looks and penetrating gaze was renowned amongst the law enforcement and earned them the unofficial nickname. the pair were carrying backpacks and long black cases each, and in regards to the petite woman, the case was as tall as her.

the copier was done printing out tenten's documents and she momentarily forgot about them as she watched the two sharpshooters move through their precinct, making their way towards her captain's office.

"neji," tenten called out, and the taller hyuuga met her wide eyed stare with a quick nod of acknowledgement, she raised her hand in greeting and watched him pass her. they would talk later.

unfortunately for the man that exuded professionalism from every pore wasn't spared the teary reunion when a loud booming voice from down a few desks all but screamed his name with emotion dialed up to the nines.

"NEJI, MY OLD PAL!" lee popped up from behind a desk and darted towards the tall brunet and was about to engulf him in a bone crushing hug before neji swung his case forward to put it between the two.

"not now lee," neji warned, "we need to talk to your captain first, we'll all catch up afterwards."

lee could have cried from joy and pride and everything in between right there, but he saluted his comrade and stepped to the side to allow him through.

the girl smiled at lee almost apologetically and followed neji to the captain's office, they were shown in by the captain's assistant secretary, shizune. the door clicked behind them, and tsunade adjusted the blinds to block the rest of the precinct from view.

tenten saddled up to lee, her documents aligned and paper-clipped, "the SAT's bird's eye unit, huh?"

"we must catch up to him," lee said with a fist raised and determination set in his eyes.

"yeah," tenten sighed, then returned to her desk, forgetting about catching up with sakura for lunch and remembering the old cadet days with lee, neji and herself. they were good times.

* * *

"here is the mission briefing," tsunade slid a folder across her desk to her seated guests. a large red 'confidential' stamp emblazoned on the front.

neji flipped open the folder reading the contents and studying the pictures, hinata peered over to scan the documents for herself.

"oh!" she gasped in surprise the same time neji's eyebrows lifted.

"how did your precinct manage to uncover all this?"

"please, mister hyuuga," tsunade flourished with her hands, "i know we're no SAT but the TMPD is very capable. we have some of the country's top detectives."

feeling embarrassed for neji's unintentional rudeness, hinata spoke up, "of course captain, there was no doubt of your subordinates' competence."

"bah, don't worry about it," tsunade waved a hand dismissively, taking no offence. it wasn't easy to get information on the members of SAT but she had heard of neji's straight cut, no bullshit, attitude. she appreciated it. it was easy to deal with people like that in this field of work, and in her experience, they were efficient.

hinata giggled, an odd sound to hear from an elite counter-terrorist soldier, "commissioner ibiki will be disappointed we didn't get to them first."

"mm," neji absently agreed as he read over some details, "especially yamato, he's been tracking them for years."

"it's going to be hard to break it to them."

the cousins murmured between each other, as the minutes passed scanning the documents, taking in all the information.

"very well," neji spoke to tsunade, closing the folder and handing it to hinata. "we will take up a room and study these documents a bit closer and go do some reconnaissance in the target area for the best line of sight for our perches."

"fantastic, i trust your reputation precedes you." the two stood to leave, "my detectives have prepared an extensive file for any loose ends, they'll meet with you shortly. good luck."

hinata bowed a bit more deeply than neji, "excuse us."

they gathered their things and exited her office.

outside, shizune showed them to the boardroom, and the pair deposited their belongings to the side. shizune offered to have them put in personal locker rooms, but the two refused. after shizune left, hinata opened the folder and splayed its contents on the long table and arranging them, rolling chairs out of the way so they could manoeuvre more comfortably.

"i think it's better if you two came to our office."

the pair turned towards the monotone voice. there they found two dark haired men, one with a natural scowl to compete with neji's and the other with an unnerving smile that held none of the goodwill it was supposed to.

feeling ticked, neji gathered the documents in one fell sweep, and followed them out the door.

"if you like, we can have your belongings stored in a personal locker room," the monotone voice belonged to the unnerving smile guy.

"it's quite alright, thank you," hinata replied.

to say that the pair weren't attached to their equipment would be an understatement. sai lead the way to his and sasuke's office, and sasuke walked behind them. being a detective, he couldn't help taking a closer look at the two SAT members, the woman's sniper case had cute stickers of pastries, animals, and flowers (which he found odd and out of place) around an insignia he knew not to be of the SAT. the same insignia, a yellow circle with a purple flame, was emblazoned on her counterpart's case, but was otherwise clean and sleek and looking brand new.

"after you," sai motioned them into the office, the pair once more deposited their things off to the side.

"wow," hinata whispered, impressed at the wall before her.

it was a complicated web of string linking photos and printed maps and tacked locations, post-its with various numbers, places and names written all over the place. a lot of the information was familiar, from having seen them in yamato's office over the past few months, and a lot of new information too.

"impressive," neji said his expectations surpassed, as he studied the bits of information and how it linked together, "the SAT could use a couple of guys like yourselves."

"mhm," hinata agreed, looking closely at one bit of information that caught her eye.

"eh," sasuke said off-handedly, "it was easy to figure out once i noticed the patterns." he wasn't going to let some SAT members come into his office and talk down to him and his department.

hearing the cocky tone in his voice, neji turned to give him a pointed stare, sizing him up. not tearing her eyes from the information, hinata reached a hand out and placed it gently on neji's upperarm, telling him to back down.

a final look from neji and he turned back, sasuke smirked and leaned against his desk.

"well then, shall we iron out the details?" sai clapped once, earning their attention.

differences set aside, the four of them got down to business like the professionals they were.

* * *

outside, tenten's phone buzzed, a text from sakura flashing.

 _you_ so _owe me lunch!_

"oops."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SAT (Special Assault Team - Tokushu Kyushu Butai)  
> TMPD (Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department - Keishichou)
> 
> obviously, i have no idea how these departments work. all i know is the SAT from rainbow six siege and this whole au was created because i imagined hina and neji as snipers for that unit one time ... and as always this series will imply canon depictions of crushes but no established relationships.


	2. the operation

"sparrow set up and ready," hinata muttered into the mouthpiece. her scope was trained on the target skyscraper in the heart of tokyo.

"hawk set up and ready," neji radioed in.

the snipers were nested on opposing corners of the target hotel, having clear sight lines on two sides each of the square building, as well three potential exit points a few blocks away in case the target didn't take the main exits.

the sounds of the city were distant at their altitude. only the cool breeze and the birds that could brave the heights were companions to the sniper duo who kept their sharp eyes focused on the hotel. through her scope, she watched as two undercover TMPD officers enter the building.

"stand by until further notice," the overwatch assigned to the mission radioed in, and the pair gripped their guns, beginning their long camp.

* * *

"be careful and stay low," sakura released the push-to-talk button after giving the order. she was stationed in the van disguised as a cable company with sai, shino, shikamaru, and naruto (who was behind the driver's seat). lee was outside posing as a pollster which made people instinctively step around him and away from the van.

shikamaru moved to light a cigarette, but sakura swiftly plucked it out of his grasp.

"not a chance," she warned with a promise of bodily harm in her eyes.

shikamaru raised his hands in surrender, "okay, okay." he then turned back to the screens, muttering something under his breath.

sakura rolled her eyes and observed the screens. they had penetrated the hotel a week prior to set up concealed black eye cameras around the building interior. it had been a delicate operation trying to plant shino's small cameras around the corridors and lobbies without alerting the staff. having the employees of the hotel know about police presence could have compromised the mission.

an hour passed before their target finally rolled up the front of the building in a fortified limousine.

"target in my sights," came the soft voice of sparrow.

"hold." sakura instructed.

a dreamy sigh came from naruto, "isn't she awesome?" he fawned.

sakura made a face, "weren't you calling them weirdos a couple of weeks back?"

"yeah, but they're cool weirdos."

"the only weirdo here is you," sai chimed.

"hey! you bastard! want a piece of me?" he shook a fist, twisting in his seat ready to punch that annoying smile off his face.

"guys." sakura sighed exasperatedly. "everyone cut the crap, we've got probably one of the most important mission on our hands, concentrate!"

everyone effectively cut the crap and put their game faces on.

"got a visual," sasuke's voice radioed in from inside the building. "the entourage is moving towards the central elevators."

a few minutes later, tenten's voice came through, "he just rounded the corner. seventeenth floor."

"ha! sasuke's information is accurate to the T!" sakura cheered.

"don't forget me," sai intoned.

sakura shot him one of his fake smiles, then quickly turned back to the screens.

their target was the suspected leader of the yakuza. the yakuza were usually efficient but some rather eccentric loose ends of their inner circle opened up a trail that could be followed. they were suspected of importing and exporting contraband, and had drawn up potential liaisons that worked at the port that covered for them. the main product was a drug enhancer with the street name bijuu.

the drug had the same concept behind standard adrenaline shots but their effect was exponential. the person under its influence felt no pain, no exhaustion, their body's limits were suspended, and their senses heightened. a person under the influence was aptly nicknamed jinchuuriki, and to the yakuza, they were expendable. the aftermath of continued use of the drug was terrible. rapid deterioration of tissues and cells; it tore a person up.

sakura's fists clenched, they played a dirty, dirty game. the yakuza preyed on unfortunate citizens that were promised a handsome sum of money in exchange for their services. people with families to feed and sick to treat were always the likely targets. she had reported back to one too many families, telling them that their family member had passed in an accident. she spared them the gory details.

she wanted the ringleaders of this operation's heads. and she was glad that the missions objective was to catch them dead or alive. she chose dead, and no one objected.

"orochimaru just entered the building," sasuke's voice came, rushed and urgent.

a murmur broke out in the truck and sakura felt her heart race.

"the defamed scientist?" naruto asked, "is it a coincidence?"

"no..." sai trailed off, thinking, "it can't be."

shikamaru wasted no time and was already digging into databases and pulling up articles with his name.

"results say he was kicked from the science council for... inhuman research?"

"research?" sakura asked, an eyebrow raised, "who gets disgraced for research? isn't it usually inhuman practices?"

"it doesn't say what kind of research, seems to be confidential," shikamaru switched through articles at an accelerated pace, saying key bits of information aloud as he combed through them, the benefits of a photographic memory always shined in situations such as this. sai penned them down quickly behind him.

"inhuman research, inhuman research," he drawled on, "unnatural fascination with nuclear data on radiation victims--"

"what does he do now?" sakura interrupted, her eyes fixed on the snake of a man in the screens as he made his way to the elevators.

"there are no records," shikamaru replied after a quick search. "he seems to have... disappeared."

"he's making the bijuu drug for the yakuza," sakura breathed. "he has to be, who else? who else could it be?"

sai's brows furrowed in concentration as he looked over the files and the new bits of information, "it's entirely possible."

"i'm willing to bet on it," sasuke's voice chimed through the speakers. "we'll have to keep him alive."

"yes," sakura agreed.

* * *

sasuke flipped the page of the newspaper he perused in the lobby of the hotel. he looked around intermittently, looking as casual as can be, checking his watch occasionally, giving the impression that he was waiting for someone.

it was then, that he did his routine sweep of the lobby when his eyes connected with someone he had presumed dead. his heart felt like it stopped and his blood turned cold. his own brother walked through the lobby towards the elevator. he couldn't recall when he stood, and was completely unaware of the angry buzzing in his ear.

"itachi..." he breathed in complete disbelief.

it was like it happened in slow motion. the long lost brothers made eye contact, and just as quickly as it happened, it ended, and itachi walked away, not even a change in his expression.

the buzzing grew louder and the voice clearer.

"...suke, SASUKE. SIT DOWN, SASUKE! HEY! SASUKE!" sakura bellowed into his ear.

"stand down this instant, this is an order," neji's voice cut through sakura's.

suddenly aware of the hustle and bustle of the hotel lobby, the chimes and the bells and the rolling bags, sasuke swallowed hard, and returned to his seat. he quickly lifted the newspaper and hid himself from view.

"what is the meaning of this!?" he hissed into the mouthpiece, "what is my brother doing here?"

"weasel has been on an on-going undercover mission for the past three years. do not mess this up under any circumstances. do you read me?" neji's voice cut like a knife, his authority suddenly taking over the mission for the moment. when he was met with silence, neji repeated, "i said do you read me?"

"copy," sasuke replied. calming down, relaxing his vice like grip around the now-crumpled newspaper. he breathed deeply, letting his rationale wash over, and saved the plethora of questions that raced in his mind for later.

"target in my sights," the too-sweet voice of a deadly sniper chimed in his ear, and softened the tension that hung in the radio waves, "they are on the twenty first floor, the windows are tinted and fortified obstructing my thermals. no chance to get them from here, we'll have to wait for their departure. nine men in the room."

"stay sharp team," sakura's voice sounded weak. she tried again, stronger this time, "we close this case today."

* * *

when the fight broke out, hinata didn't have sight lines on the inside of the building. she saw naruto bolt into the hotel, gunshots and sakura's frenzied voice rang in her ear and hinata gripped her sniper rifle ready for anything. naruto and a bunch of pain's bodyguards ran out of the building, tenten hot on their tails, but hinata held her fire, pain wasn't with them. she had to tear her eyes from the scuffle below to search the exits for a sign of pain and she saw him leave through another exit.

it had happened so fast, suddenly naruto was there and a swift shot from pain clipped him in the shoulder, just missing his kevlar vest. and naruto tumbled to the ground, and tried to get up again.

hinata willed the mild panic she felt at seeing him go down to calm down. she turned off her earpiece and allowed herself to breathe deeply in the silence, and aimed her gun at pain. she let the calm wash over her as she made small calculations and compensated for the distance she was in.

the sound of the first shot was explosive. it filled the streets below and panic broke out. pain was down, and his body guards quickly dropped after a cacophony of sniper rounds cracked and echoed ominously all around them.

when hinata turned her earpiece back on she was met with radio silence as everyone was out on the field arresting people, making a barrier to keep panicked and curious civilians at bay, cleaning up messes, and sakura was quickly administering medical aid to naruto.

neji's voice radioed in, "take a life to save a life," he muttered and the heavy statement hung in the air as everyone below rushed to control the area, and the snipers that towered above them packed their sniper rifles and rappelled down the buildings.


	3. Chapter 3

the briefing room was a mess of yelling and disorder.

"did no one think to inform me of this huge oversight?" sasuke snapped with barely contained rage.

neji, who stood to the side of the room, snapped back, "we counted on your professionalism to win over the shock. the 'oversight' was accounted for. the SAT leave no loose ends."

sakura bit her lip worriedly, she had never seen sasuke this furious, and naruto who usually had a dopey look to him was looking serious as ever.

sasuke turned on tsunade, "did you know about this?"

"everyone except the SAT and sasuke, leave. now." tsunade ordered cutting off sakura and naruto who began to protest.

everyone hurriedly got up, quick to leave the tense room. sakura squeezed sasuke's arm reassuringly as she passed him, and naruto patted him on the shoulder. his mood didn't improve but it was a reminder that he had friends that were there for him at his most vulnerable.

tsunade regarded sasuke with sympathy, the look irritated him, he didn't want sympathy. he wanted answers. and he wanted them now.

when the door clicked shut behind the last officer, tsunade spoke up, "sorry kiddo, the SAT operations are a secret, even to us. i didn't know anything about this."

"who was it that was found dead?" he rounded on neji, "i had to go to the morgue and identify that... _thing_ as my brother."

"sorry," neji said with no sincerity behind it, "that is top secret information and until the case is cleared you'll have to stay in the dark."

sasuke was livid. he wanted to punch the haughty hyuuga right in the kisser. the mangled body of the apparent decoy had haunted him for years. someone had to pay for this, to answer to the pain and grief in his heart.

sasuke felt the fight leave him and he collapsed onto a chair. he buried his face in his hands, remembering his brother's face whose gaze passed over him like he was a stranger on the street. images of a corpse flashed in his mind's eye. it was ripped up and broken apart and burned beyond recognition. the metal chain that itachi wore around his neck was damaged but otherwise intact, it was the only defining feature of the remains. suddenly the weight of it around his own neck felt heavy and burned his skin.

"oh..." hinata's voice was sad, "couldn't we tell him, neji? just a little bit? it's his brother after all, i'm sure he'll abide by the confidentiality--"

"no." neji said with finality.

sasuke's eyes locked with hinata, of course she had also known. her unassuming nature was disarming and he remembered to direct his anger at her too. what a fool he must have looked like to those two.

"sasuke, please understand--" tsunade started but a sharp knock at the door cut her off.

the door opened enough for a body to squeeze through and it was none other than itachi, wearing the same suit from earlier at the hotel. everyone looked at him with varying degrees of shock, and one of disapproval from neji.

the scraping of the chair as sasuke stood up brought hinata's attention back to sasuke, her heart felt for him in that moment.

"do you realise what you're risking by coming here--" neji spat.

itachi lifted a hand placatingly, "i understand, it will be only for a moment."

"everyone out, let's give them their privacy," tsunade ordered, stepping down. neji was already out the door, and tsunade quickly in tow. hinata was last to leave as she manoeuvred around chairs towards the exit. she shot one last look of concern at the brothers, and swung the door closed just as she heard the agonizing sound that escaped sasuke as the brothers embraced in a crushing hug, the image burned in her mind as her hand lingered on the doorknob.

* * *

outside, tsunade had opened up a bottle of sake, much to shizune's dismay, and called for a celebration of a job well done. paper cups were passed around as cheers filled the precinct. neji had gone off to one corner, sitting on a chair whose desk was occupied by tenten and lee. neji downed his sake in one shot, shook his head to rid the negativity that swirled around him, then, with a softer expression, turned his attention to his ex-teammates and entered a conversation with them.

hinata entered the circle and the party greeted her with a whoops and hoots.

"here's the star of the show!" choji boomed and handed her a cup of sake.

feeling a blush creeping up from all the eyes on her, she felt a pat on her shoulder.

"great job today, hinata," sakura's eyes were warm.

"yeah! you're awesome, ya know!" naruto got up all in her face, his eyes sparkled with admiration, his injury forgotten in the wake of his unshakable optimism.

now hinata was fully blushing.

"hey idiot!" sakura bonked him on the head.

"sakuraaaa," he whined, rubbing his head, "what did i do! i was just complimenting her!"

"you're too close! let the girl breathe!"

hinata felt thankful for sakura's interjection, having him so close set her heart ablaze, but she willed herself to calm down. "i-i-it was n-nothing..." _oh god_. she actually stuttered.

"don't be so modest!" choji joined, "you took out pain! leader of the yakuza's akatsuki family! that's gotta top your confirmed kills list for most notorious men!"

"well.. yes, b-but--"

"so cool!" naruto cheered again.

"please, you all played a big part..." hinata tried but it fell on deaf ears as everyone rejoiced downing sake and passing snacks, courtesy of choji.

sakura wrapped an arm around hinata's shoulders and held up her own paper cup. hinata met her gaze with a smile and dinked her cup with sakura's. they both took a sip and made a face.

"i hope he's okay in there..."

hinata followed sakura's gaze to the door of the briefing room.

they both stood like that together for a while, watching the door, concern between them.

"he'll be fine, i'm sure. he is resilient." hinata reassured the woman that was leaning on her, she felt that sakura needed to hear it. and sakura replied by squeezing her shoulder and downing the rest of the sake before turning to the party and plastering on a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

hinata looked to the door then to sakura, and then timidly joined the small celebration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here's the end of this little 3 chapter ficlet. i'm not very good at expanding plots and making long stories (i sincerely wish i was), but i'm happy with the way this turned out! i have two more stories lined up for this AU featuring characters that have yet to be seen, so i hope you'll stick around and check out the other snippets in this small series ^^
> 
> thank you for reading!


End file.
